Chapter 34
***
Until recently, lody was known as the darling of the village, but in fact, before that, she wasn’t a particularly welcod existence.
It was because of her mother.
Thinking about it, no one likes having a dangerous criminal living in their neighborhood, so it was natural for her to be disliked.
However, there was a problem. Adults’ thoughts and attitudes were directly transmitted to their children.
So, the children would sotis hurl an words at lody or play childish pranks on her.
“l!”
‘Isaiah’ was one of the very few village children who stood up for lody.
Whenever lody was upset from being bullied by the other children and hid crying near the vegetable garden’s wall, Isaiah would always co to find her.
“Was it this brat? Right? It was this one, wasn’t it?”
And he never ca empty-handed. After beating up the child who had bullied lody, he would drag them along.
“Hic.”
lody was startled into stopping her crying when she saw the boy Isaiah brought with him, his nose bleeding.
How hard must he have hit him!
Isaiah seed to think that lody’s cessation of tears was an expression of ‘joy’.
He smirked a bit smugly.
“Here, now you do the sa to this one.”
Isaiah pushed the boy he brought in front of lody.
“…The sa?”
“That’s how these guys will learn not to bully you again.”
Isaiah frowned, looking at lody’s one
shoe.
Here’s what happened:
lody had fallen over in the middle of the village, and one of her slightly larger
shoes had co off and rolled away.
Seeing this, the village boys laughed and threw lody’s
shoe to a distant chestnut tree.
The shoe got caught on a branch of the chestnut tree that even adults could barely climb.
“Co on, do the sa to him! Show him what it feels like!”
Urged by Isaiah, lody hesitantly approached the boy, who was bleeding from the nose.
The boy twitched his feet, too scared of Isaiah to even think of running away.
lody looked at the boy’s brown
shoes. They were very shiny.
Then she rembered.
These shoes were a birthday gift for the boy. His parents had gone far to buy them.
The boy had bragged about these
shoes to everyone in the village.
He treasured them greatly.
lody withdrew her hand that she had tentatively extended. She resented the boy, but she didn’t want to go this far.
“Hurry up. What will you do if the adults co?!”
Frustrated, Isaiah forcefully snatched the boy’s shoes and placed them in lody’s hand.
lody looked back and forth between the frightened boy and Isaiah, then finally handed the shoes back to the boy.
“Here, take them.”
The boy looked at lody with disbelief, but soon snatched his
shoes and clutched them tightly, running away in a panic.
“What do you think you’re doing!” Isaiah quickly tried to catch the boy, but lody firmly grabbed his arm, preventing him from doing so.
“Stop it, Isaiah!”
Isaiah stared blankly at the little girl clinging to his arm and then just sighed.
“You’re really too kind-hearted.”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
“I… I don’t like doing that.”
“You don’t have to like it. You have to do it so they won’t bully you!”
“…”
lody didn’t respond. Isaiah muttered a few more similar words of advice but eventually sighed and pinched lody’s cheeks.
“There’s no helping it. I’ll protect you, l. If anyone bullies you, you tell , okay?”
“But, the doctor will be upset.”
When lody ntioned his mother, Isaiah’s face montarily turned pale.
Being the son of a doctor and going around beating up the village kids might get him in trouble again.
“No, no problem! I’m going to be a knight, not so doctor!”
Trying to appear strong, the boy puffed up his chest.
Finding his behavior sowhat amusing, lody, tears still brimming in her eyes, couldn’t help but smile.
“Little l, go ho quickly.”
The boy looked at lody with slight annoyance, then abruptly turned and started running off sowhere.
lody asked where he was going, but all she got in response was, “You don’t need to know! Just go ho!”
***
That evening, lody had dinner with her mother and quietly returned to her room.
Feeling a bit sleepy, she lay down on her bed when she heard a tapping sound at the window.
lody sat up and looked towards the sound.
“Who’s there…?”
But there was no one. Maybe the window wasn’t properly closed and was rattling in the wind.
lody got out of bed and approached the window.
As she thought, the window was slightly open. But the tapping sound wasn’t made by the wind.
lody cautiously picked up the worn-out
shoe placed on the windowsill.
It was the one she had lost earlier in the day.
She quickly looked up. Beyond the pitch darkness, she saw the silhouette of a boy running away in a hurry.
It was just a silhouette, but she knew.
It was Isaiah.
***
“…l?”
At the cautious voice, lody turned to look.
“l, is that you?”
The boy almost stuck his head through the carriage window as he asked.
Startled, the other knights and retainers hurried to pull him away, but Claude raised his hand to stop them, curious about the boy’s relation to lody.
Despite the boy’s fervent call, lody remained cautious.
He called her ‘l,’ a nickna from the past, which made her think it might be Isaiah, but she couldn’t be sure as half of his face was covered by a helt.
Noticing her hesitation, Isaiah grumbled slightly as he removed his helt.
“That’s a bit much.”
With the helt off, his playful smile was visible.
His skin was more tanned and his hair was a sweaty ss, but his smile was unchanged.
“Isaiah!”
lody called out his na and stood up without realizing.
Her height wasn’t enough to hit the carriage roof.
“Co here, little l.”
He spread his arms slightly, and lody quickly opened the carriage door.
Isaiah imdiately hugged her.
The cold touch of his armor felt strange, but the laughter near her ear was unmistakably the Isaiah she rembered.
Maybe Isaiah hadn’t changed at all since coming to the capital.
Except he was taller and a bit bulkier.
“Isaiah, you’ve grown so much.”
lody had to look up a bit while standing on the carriage step.
Even though Isaiah had always been much taller than lody.
Perhaps pleased by her comnt, the boy smiled broadly and gently pinched lody’s cheeks.
“l is still tiny. Did you even grow?”
“I did!”
“Oh, l is sulking.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Sure you are.”
He poked lody’s chin with his fingertip and laughed heartily.
“When l sulks, she always gets a little tense here. Who are you trying to fool?”
lody quickly covered her mouth with both hands. Thinking about it, Isaiah knew a lot about her, even more than her own mother did.
Maybe he was the person who knew her best, other than her mother.
“I was just about to talk about your mother…”
At that mont, Claude raised his voice to speak to the knight standing behind Isaiah.
“Would it be alright to borrow the knight’s apprentice for a mont? It seems he has a connection with our guest.”
“Of course, Lord Baldwin.”
“Thank you. And while I owe you, could you arrange a place for us to chat?”
“Yes, I’ll notify the inside.”
After receiving a courteous response, Claude smiled faintly, and the knight nudged Isaiah’s back, whispering, “Know that if you disrespect the Duke’s family, you’ll eat a raw hawthorn when you return.”
“lody, please take a seat.”
At Claude’s request, lody returned to the seat opposite him.
He nodded slightly to Isaiah, indicating permission for him to climb into the carriage.
Moreover, Claude kindly moved towards the window to make room for the unfamiliar guest.
“Well then, I won’t refuse the offer.”
With a sowhat casual tone, Isaiah greeted and climbed into the carriage.
He squeezed his large fra into the carriage, looking around as if wondering where to sit. Claude quickly gestured to the seat next to him. However, Isaiah imdiately sat next to lody with a thud.
“l, it’s cramped. Move over a bit.”
Adding such a request to a lady seed quite rude. Just as Claude thought this, Isaiah displayed his own version of capital-style manners.
“Uh, thanks for the ride, my lord.”
He gave a slight nod, and lody slapped his arm.
“He’s not a lord, he’s a young master. Dummy.”
“What, did you just call
dumb?”
“Because Isaiah keeps being careless. He’s a very high-ranking noble.”
“Why is such a high-ranking young master with you?”
“Well…”
lody hesitated to answer, unsure of what to say.
Perhaps her answer was of great concern. Both the noisy Isaiah and Claude, who always teased lody, just looked at her silently. It was ti for soone to break the silence.
Thankfully, the carriage stopped just in ti, a blessing. The knight who had received the ssage at the entrance escorted the three to a reception room of the knight order next to the central prison.
It seed they were being given a comfortable place to talk.
Entering the reception room, Claude offered lody a seat. After she sat as he suggested, Claude promptly sat next to her. He then kindly gestured Isaiah to take a seat, across the wide table from them.
Once everyone was seated, a servant brought in so refreshnts.
“Wow, chocolate!”
Isaiah, childishly excited, grabbed a handful of chocolates and stared at Claude.
“Young Master of the Duke’s house, may I take so of these chocolates? The guys… I an, the… well, everyone I train with is craving sothing sweet.”
“Then I’ll have more brought in.”
“Aweso!”
Isaiah hurriedly stuffed his pockets with chocolates, amusing lody, who chuckled.
“You really haven’t changed at all.”
In the village, he always helped lody and other friends in need, sharing whatever tasty treats he had.
“Of course. I beca a knight to not change. Oh, that reminds .”
Suddenly, he stood up. lody thought he might be getting more chocolate, but fortunately, that wasn’t it.
He adopted a serious expression, unusual for him.
Then, like a knight from a storybook, he knelt on one knee on the floor.
Isaiah looked up, his gaze eting Claude’s.
He smiled slyly, a smile Claude found sowhat irritating.
“I apologize for my delayed gratitude, Young Master of the Duke’s house.”
“It’s just chocolate.”
“No, I an for looking after l, even if it was brief. I thought it proper to express my thanks.”
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